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Jared Cowen was back in his familiar spot on the Senators’ blueline against Carolina here Sunday night.

Much to the displeasure of the Detroit Red Wings.

The Wings wanted the book thrown at the club’s defenceman after they claimed top centre Pavel Datsyuk suffered a concussion on an uncalled elbow to the head in the third period of Ottawa’s 4-2 victory Saturday in Detroit.

NHL spokesman John Dellapina said VP of safety Brendan Shanahan had a thorough look at the elbow by Cowen with seven minutes left in the game and deemed that the contact was “accidental” and “inadvertent”.

“The NHL reviewed it and said there was no penalty for it so he’s playing,” said coach Paul MacLean before the game against the Carolina Hurricanes.

It helped Cowen had no past history and Shanahan felt the incident was similar to the one last week when Dennis Seidenberg caught Ottawa winger Bobby Ryan with an elbow and didn’t give the Boston defencemen any discipline.

Datsyuk was unable to suit up and is out for an indefinite period. That meant former Senators’ captain Daniel Alfredsson, who has been sidelined for five games with a groin injury, returned to the lineup against the Sabres.

The club had planned to hold him out until Wednesday but brought Alfredsson back early. All this should make for an interesting rematch between the Senators and Wings next Sunday at the Canadian Tire Centre.

NHL deems Jared Cowen's hit on Wings' star Pavel Datsyuk 'accidental'

Jared Cowen was back in his familiar spot on the Senators’ blueline against Carolina here Sunday night.

Much to the displeasure of the Detroit Red Wings.

The Wings wanted the book thrown at the club’s defenceman after they claimed top centre Pavel Datsyuk suffered a concussion on an uncalled elbow to the head in the third period of Ottawa’s 4-2 victory Saturday in Detroit.